Some February Football Nuggets.

Submitted by MichiganMan14 on
Things are moving along great with the program and yes the offense with be tweaked with some west coast flair. Rashan Gary was described as "Not Normal" lol. The overall athleticism of the team is markedly improved and each year going forward should show vertical movement in that department. There has been official 40 yard dashes held and much of the speed debate has been settled on the field....in some cases...again haha. I believe Kekoa may have won the WRs. Mettelus was the fastest of the DBs and Higdon beat all RBs in back to back heats. New RB Coach Jay Harbaugh is making his mark. Very humble and knowledgeable and is well received amongst the RBs. There is much more to him than his last name. The kids are going to play hard for him. This is going to be a fun young team. Blank expectations is probably the best outlook. They will be extremely fun to watch though. Biggest areas of concern are the defensive backfield and the offensive line. If these areas get shored up in the next 6 months, we're going to have a top 10 team in Ann Arbor next season :) April 15 is the "Home" spring game. There will be another in Italy. Simply awesome what Michigan is doing for these kids.

M_Born M_Believer

February 25th, 2017 at 11:03 PM ^

Always hungry for good info. I have to admit t that I am a little surprised that Higdon won the RB (my guess would have been Evans by a hair over Higdon). But yes the talent level that JH is bringing in is simply awesome.

Mr. Yost

February 26th, 2017 at 9:27 AM ^

When the team did 200 Evans was 2nd fastest on the entire team.

That said, 40 would be a better measure. Regardless, both can hit the hole and get upfield. I'm going to miss De'Veon going BEASTMODE on people left and right, but it'll be nice to have some pure speed in the backfield. Haven't had that since "shoelaces flapping in the wind!"

Wal-Mart Wolverine

February 25th, 2017 at 11:14 PM ^

I could care less who is fastest in 200 yard runs. All that tell's us who has the most endurance. I want 40 yard times, that's when you'll see McDoom and Evans shine.

The Fan in Fargo

February 26th, 2017 at 12:37 AM ^

How come no one does the circle drill for testing speed? You ever play duck duck goose in a circle? A real test of speed, coordination and athleticism would be to see who runs around a circle say with a circumference of 40 yards. Go around that a few times and you'll see who the studs are. Not everyone gets to run the curve in the 4x1 relay on the track boys and that isn't even sharp!

The Krusty Kra…

February 25th, 2017 at 11:16 PM ^

Because I feel like with no Championship or Bust expectations, we can all breathe a little easier watching the Wolverines from week to week. It's a plus having MSU and OSU both at home again too rather than sending a young team out on the road. These next 180ish days can't move quickly enough! 

alum96

February 25th, 2017 at 11:37 PM ^

MM14 I believe is the guy who brought Higdon to attention of Singletary and helped guide him away from the cornfields of Iowa.

As stated in OP, live and die in '17 with the OL on offense.  You can win a lot with young skill positions if talented; pretty tough with a young OL.  I feel a bit more sanguine about the DBs just because there are so many of them and quite a few were highly ranked you hope just by chance the odds fall into your favor esp at CB.... but there will be a learning curve for sure.  Thankfully the Big 10 is not a conference like Big 12 or Pac 12 where there are a lot of workhorses at QB.  And #ChaosTeam is now full Debord so that's one less one to worry about with legit QBs.

March thru spring game is the time for hype and building everything up with breathless practice whispers!  Watching the very young offense go vs what should still be a good defense in the spring game is the time we say "offense is way behind defense - no worries bro.  Off to the submarine."

Just beat OSU again in my lifetime guys....

stephenrjking

February 26th, 2017 at 12:29 AM ^

Hard to agree with the different points of a post more than I agree with this, especially the first half. I think our QB situation will be markedly improved and I love the talent we have waiting to step in at the skill positions (though the Asiasi loss stings at TE). It's all on the OL, and what known quantities we have there haven't given us tremendous reason for optimism.

The talent at DB is hard to read because the guys that left were so good, which means a dropoff is inevitable but also that there might be some real stuff waiting in the wings. And guys like Hill and Long have both talent and some time in the system to learn. 

So it's all about the OL. And I love getting snippets of stuff like the Gary hype we've seen whispers of. 

One disagreement:

Your autocorrect appears to have turned "Just beat OSU this year" into something else. Ah well, that's how it goes.

Michifornia

February 25th, 2017 at 11:50 PM ^

The sky's the limit.  Agree with OP, this team will be fun to watch for the foreseeable future.  Speed and atheleticism.  Do want!

Hoping to head to Arlington to see us stomp Florida.

GO BLUE!!

We are back

February 26th, 2017 at 12:08 AM ^

Is this a "Bill Walsh" or "new age" west coast system? I do remember seeing Nico Collins say he was told by coaches more 3-4 WR sets so I believe it means shotgun west coast system.

stephenrjking

February 26th, 2017 at 12:37 AM ^

3-4 WR sets makes a lot of sense, especially with Asiasi bolting and the talent we have outside. Not sure how this translates to "West Coast," exactly. Properly speaking, the West Coast offense is an offense build on timing and short passes, a specific mechanic for how plays are built and combined, using a language derived from Bill Walsh and his coaching tree.

However, practically speaking, "West Coast Offense" is a name people put on a lot of passing heavy offenses, especially ones operating from under center, that has little to do with the actual system employed. Much the same way "spread" is used to refer to systems as different as the Air Raid and the Urban Meyer power run offense.

My guess from the different sources is that Michigan is emphasizing the pass more, with more WRs, and if shotgun is used more, great. If this is true, that tells me that Harbaugh knows that the OL is going to be a problem and that he is taking presumptive steps to deal with it (a natural consequence would be a lot of short passes, so there you go). Also, that he has a lot of confidence in Speight to be able to handle the increased workload. 

This... is not a bad idea at all. The result might wind up looking a lot like the Gronk-less Patriots.

I Like Burgers

February 26th, 2017 at 12:58 AM ^

I think you're right with a Gronkless Pats expectation. They don't have an established OL or any sort of proven workhorse at RB, but they do have a lot of young weapons at WR and some good situational weapons in the backfield. Going situationally quick tempo and throwing lots of weapons out there and deploying crazy Harbaugh formations could prove to be pretty successful.

DrMantisToboggan

February 26th, 2017 at 3:28 PM ^

It made, seemingly, all the difference. Marcus Cannon took a HUGE step forward. Incredible that A) Scarnecchia can make that great a difference and B) that BB can just tell a retired person to unretire and he does it, no questions asked, and comes back and has one of his better years as a coach. 

 

No professional sports organization is run as well as the Pats are.

Bodogblog

February 26th, 2017 at 6:27 AM ^

I don't know that it means anything about Harbaugh's thoughts on the OL.  That's certainly a possibiity.  But an offensive coach and QB guru with the recruiting resources of Michigan doesn't need any further prompting then letting his playcalling imagination run.  He loves the passing game and he loves innovation, and that could be the reason full stop.

I think it's equally possible he has a QB that he really trusts, in terms of understanding the sets, getting people lined up, and knowing where he's supposed to go with the football.  Having that asset available seems as likely a driver of a system change than a liability on the OL.  

Fezzik

February 26th, 2017 at 12:31 AM ^

It's interesting how much we loaded up on the TE position before this recruiting cycle but now may move to an offense that utilizes TE's less and WR's more. Are we still going to have the multiple TE sets? That would be nuts to see 4 wide sets one play and a 3 TE set the next.